Abstract details
| Abstract-ID: | 1309 |
| Title of the paper: | ‘Who can represent the real Shanghai-style fan culture?’ Lotman’s Semiotics of Culture on the bipolarization rivalry among Shanghai football fans |
| Authors: | Qi, C., Giulianotti, R., Wiltshire, G., Jiang, K. |
| Institution: | Loughborough University |
| Department: | School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Abstract text | Using Juri Lotman’s Semiotics of Culture theory as the umbrella, this article explores the issue of culture clash between Shanghai natives and new immigrants as projected in the field of football within the context of social change. Currently, there are two professional football clubs, the Shanghai Shenhua Football Club and the Shanghai Port Football Club, in the Shanghai city qualifying for the Chinese Super League. As the first professional football club in Shanghai, Shenhua was supported by all Shanghai local fans in 1993 and recognized as a symbol of Shanghai. With the establishment of the new immigrant-based Shanghai Port Football Club in 2005, a new curtain was raised in the Shanghai football scene with the ‘Shanghai Derby’. Over the years, the debate among fans about ‘who can represent the real Shanghai-style fan culture’ has continued along with the increasingly tense football matches, culminating in a polarized struggle for identity between locals and new immigrants. By examining how social change, urbanization promotion, cultural interaction, and economic development have shaped fans’ identities, values, attitudes, and their engagement with football, this paper aims to critically analyse the reasons for the ‘bipolar’ struggles within Shanghai’s fanbase and explore the impact of this phenomenon on the construction of urban cultural identity in Shanghai. This may contribute to the development of the Shanghai football context by offering solutions to moderate the rivalry. It also pioneers the use of Lotman’s theory to explain a phenomenon in Chinese football. |
| Topic: | Sociology |
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